User:Keegan/Moses Znaimer

Moses Znaimer (born 1942) is a Canadian broadcaster, publisher, media pioneer, and founder of the Toronto-based City TV. A long-term fixture in the television industry, Znaimer has been responsible for introducing several innovations that viewers around the globe now consume: the specialty channel, breakfast television, the streetfront studio, the open concept news show, videographers, VJ’s, and full ethnic diversity among newcasters.

Znaimer runs the annual Idea City in Toronto, an offshoot of the Ted Conferences which has attracted celebrity speakers such as Pete Seeger. He owns the largest private collection and museum of vintage television sets in the world. He has appeared as a villain in the Louis Malle movie Atlantic City, and in 2002 co-founded Cannasat Therapeutics, a publicly traded company pioneering a new class of medicinal drugs derived from marijuana.

In 2003 Znaimer sold his interest in City TV and its companion, CHUM, and resigned his managerial role there. After a half dozen years semi-retirement, he re-emerged in 2009 and purchased a controlling interest in CARP, the Canadian Association of Retired People, and incorporated ZoomerMedia, a media conglomeration of radio, television stations, and magazines aimed at Zoomers (“Boomers with Zip”), people aged 45 and up.

Early life
Moses (Moishe) Znaimer was born in 1942 during World War II in Kulyab, Tajikistan, to Aron and Chaya (nee Epelsweig). The family, being Jewish of Eastern European descent, were fleeing Nazi persecution. The family eventually landed in a Displaced Person’s (DP) Camp in Kastle in the American Zone of occupied Germany. Znaimer had had tuberculosis as an infant; fearing that his poor health would threaten the the family’s application for Canadian refugee status, his parents substituted another refugee boy for the compulsory medical inspection. The ploy worked, and in the spring of 1948, the family arrived by ship in Halifax, at Canada’s Pier 4. A photographer took a photo of the 6 year old Znaimer coming down the gangplank; the picture appeared on the cover of a national magazine above the caption: "DP with a future."

The Znaimers – including Moses and younger siblings Sam and Libby -- settled in Montreal, Quebec. Znaimer’s father opened a small shoe store; his mother worked as a waitress and bookkeeper at a popular steakhouse. Despite their modest circumstances, both parents placed great value on education (both earned university-level degrees in later life). As a result, Znaimer attended the rigorous United Talmud Torah, a Jewish parochial school, where notable classmates included poet/singer Leonard Cohen and former Canadian federal justice minister Irwin Cotler. His Grade 7 English and History teacher was the poet Irving Layton. In his first class with Layton, Layton, wrote the numbers "99.9" over and over again on the blackboard. “99.9 percent of people are philistines,” he told the students when he was finished. "I didn't even know what a philistine was,” Znaimer says today, “but I knew I didn't want to be one.” Znaimer also credits Layton with his first connection to the media world.

Znaimer actively worked starting from a young age. He worked as a wedding singer, a delivery boy, a tutor, a pin boy at a bowling alley, a waiter at a wealthy Jewish country club, and a busboy at the notorious Montreal nightclub, the Chez Paris. When his school principal discovered where he was employed, he offered to pay Znaimer’s school tuition if he’d quit. Znaimer refused and was expelled for three days. Despite the punishment, he continued to work at the nightclub until it closed following a gang war.

Znaimer was awarded an entry scholarship to Montreal’s McGill University where he adapted his Yiddish name “Moishe” to the Anglo version “Moses”. He served as President of the McGill Debating Club, earned an Honours BA in Philosophy and Politics in 1963, and was subsequently awarded a scholarship to pursue an Masters of Arts in Government at Harvard University.

Career
In the mid 1960s, Znaimer joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). He made an impact almost immediately, by launching Cross-Country Checkup on May 16, 1965), Canada’s first live national open-line radio show, and and Znaimer’s first interactive broadcasting experiment. Cross-Country Checkup remains on the air to this day.  Znaimer also produced CBC Television’s Take 30, a national afternoon newsmagazine designed for homemakers that he transformed into a showcase for serious journalism on social and cultural topics. He co-hosted Take 30 with Adrienne Clarkson (Governor General of Canada from 1999-2005).  Znaimer followed Take 30 with the weekend current affairs show The Way It Is; in one episode he conducted an interview with the emerging American feminist writer Gloria Steinem, who performed stereotypical female chores while being interviewed in various rooms of her New York City apartment . Znaimer specialized in reporting from international trouble spots: student unrest in Mexico City; the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; the Biafran rebellion in Nigeria; and the race riots in New Haven, Connecticut, where he was the first to publicly demonstrate a new product on the market called Mace. On camera, Znaimer announced, “This is Mace; this is what is does.” He was then sprayed in the face. It was also on Take 30, during the highpoint of separatist sentiment in Quebec, that Znaimer introduced English Canada to the Quebec sovereigntist and songwriter Gilles Vigneault, and his song “Mon Pays”.

Znaimer left the CBC in 1969 amid controversy surrounding funding for a 13-part documentary series on the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. "I used to say that what helped me understand the labyrinthian nature of the CBC,” Znaimer notes, “was my study of the Communist party." On the actual anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the CBC aired Znaimer’ series. In 2005, the CBC produced a documentary of Znaimer’s own career in their Life & Times series.

CITY-TV
After leaving the CBC, Znaimer went to work for Bay Street venture capitalist Ben Webster. Webster's Helix Investments backed Thunder Sound, the country’s first 24-track recording studio. For six months, Znaimer presided over Thunder Sound, where he met a host of renowned Canadian musical artists, including Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Anne Murray, and Gordon Lightfoot.

In 1971, Znaimer formed an alliance with Canadian cable television pioneer Israel (Sruki) Switzer, his wife Phyllis, and Gerry Grafstein to submit an application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a new television license. They assembled 30 investors, who contributed $50,000 each, just enough to acquire a switcher, a transmitter and some second-hand equipment. Called Channel Seventy-Nine Limited and with Znaimer as president, the company was awarded Toronto’s first UHF broadcasting license on November 25, 1971. Znaimer chose the call letters CITY-TV to reflect the station’s location in the heart of Toronto, Canada’s largest city. Citytv launched on September 28, 1972. The channel gained attention for its new style of local, urban, “hip” TV. Industry reviewers called it “gutsy”, “spontaneous”, and “home-made”. Znaimer’s first print ad - “Ever dream of talking to your TV?” – highlighted his approach. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Citytv model was widely imitated by US and international network executives who came to Toronto to study it for themselves. Warren Littlefield, the President of NBC Entertainment at the time, commented, “I have seen the light…I can’t imagine how I will look at television the same after this.” A visiting executive from CBS noted, “We’ve seen the future of television, and we are totally unnerved."

Later, Znaimer moved Citytv to its present location at 299 Queen Street West. In place of traditional studios, the five story, 160,000 square foot, 1913 heritage building was equipped with 35 “hydrants” or outlets that connected audio, video, intercom and lights with 160 miles of cable. Any public space – offices, rooftops, even the parking lot - could be used as shoot locations within minutes. Large windows opened to the street to allow television cameras to shoot the city in real time from the inside. Knowing that Citytv could not compete against its giant competitors for conventional mass appeal first-run US programming, Znaimer narrowed the essentials of his channel down to three pillars: News, Movies, and Music. On a relatively tiny budget, the station produced 40 hours of original local programming a week, shown 24 hours a day – also a departure for the time. Many of these local shows – Fashion Television, Sex Television, Electric Circus among them – were eventually syndicated globally. Znaimer’s practice was to incubate local half-hour niche programs and use them to spin off popular specialized channels of heir own. A pilot could be ready in three to four months, a series could be on the air the following year, and a channel not long after that. Early contributors to Citytv programs included producer/director Ivan Reitman and actor Dan Ackroyd. Notable shows included CITYLIGHT, featuring host Brian Linehann interviewing celebrities with incredibly meticulous research, and The Shulman File, one of TV’s first “attack journalism” shows.

In 1978, Znaimer sold 70 percent of the station to CHUM Limited. In 1981, he sold his remaining share to CHUM and continued on as President and Executive Producer of all CHUM television stations and channels until 2004. To this day, Moses Znaimer remains synonymous with Citytv.

In the early 1980s, Znaimer faced a changing competitive landscape as broadcast media like CNN and MTV went global, moving their operations into markets with resources that local players had little hope of matching. In response, Znaimer created a global alternative television archetype and developed local Citytv affiliated stations in 22 countries.

Znaimer summarized his theory of new media in his “Ten Commandments of Television”.

The Baby Blue Movie
In the early 1970s, Znaimer generated wide-spread controversy over his decision to air the Friday Baby Blue Movies, the first regularly scheduled adult-themed, regularly scheduled program to air on any station in North America. The show quickly achieved rating suprremacy in its timeslot, averaging an audience of 250,000 viewers. Following the airing of a series of shorts from the New York Erotic Film Festival, obscenity charges were laid against the station. Although the charges were later dismissed, Znaimer remained disgusted with the film rating system. “It was all right to cut off a woman’s breast,” he said, “but not to kiss it.” He was one of the few broadcasters who refused to air slasher films or commercials promoting them.

Videography
To increase the credibility of his news reporters and exploit newly-available technology, Znaimer sent out camera-carrying correspondents who used specialized hand-held cameras that allowed them to to shoot the scene and capture their audio reporting of it at the same time. He cointed the term “Videographer” to describe this new breed of news gatherer.

On Air Personalities
In a major departure from North American television practice, Znaimer introduced on-air personalities from a wide range of ethnicities, with an equally wide range of accents: among them Ben Chin of Korea, Jojo Chintoh from West Africa, and Punjabi Monika Deol. In 1984, when Znaimer hired David Onley, a polio survivor (and the current Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario) as a weather and science reporter, he made a point of shooting his entire body. “It sent a message to TV viewers everywhere that my physical shortcomings were irrelevant,” said Onley. “What counted was my ability to do the job."

Znaimer was also the first to hire the first TV reporter solely dedicated to environmental coverage, “Ecology Specialist” Bob Hunter, the co-founder and former president of Greenpeace.

Speaker’s Corner
In 1990, Znaimer introduced Speaker’s Corner, an automated streetside soapbox and TV’s first answer to newspapers’ “Letter To The Editor”. Speaker’s Corner, located just outside the Citytv building, consisted of a telephone-booth-sized kiosk, containing a video camera and a coin slot. Participants were invited to speak their mind on any subject – one dollar bought two minutes of video time, with all proceeds going to charity. The best Speakers Corner footage was edited into a half-hour pilot, which became so popular that it was regularly scheduled on Citytv. Speaker’s Corner has been referred to as TV’s first “reality show”.

Speaker’s Corner also discovered talent. The as-yet-unknown rock band Barenaked Ladies reached their earliest audiences by playing songs in the kiosk. Actor Mike Myers, singers Nelly Furtado, Sam Roberts, Choclair, and Michael Buble made Speaker’s Corner appearances as did former Canadian Prime Ministers Jean Chretien and Kim Campbell during their 2000 election campaign.

MuchMusic
As early as 1975, well before MTV appeared on US television in 1981, Znaimer was integrating up to 30 “pop-clips” – short experimental music films now commonly known as music videos – a week into Citytv’s programming.

In 1984 Znaimer created his official answer to MTV, MuchMusic. MusicPlus followed in Quebec in 1986 (Znaimer remains the only Anglophone producer to have launched a channel in French Canada.)

Initially a discretionary pay-TV channel, MuchMusic became part of the basic Canadian cable service in 1989, reaching some 5 million households. The show was designed to expose unsigned, or independent Canadian bands to a national audience, an opportunity that was unavailable to American musicians on US television or radio. It adapted the classic Citytv characteristics, allowing the public to see the process and get as close as possible to the action. Cameras were hand-held at obtuse angles; telephones rang; young hosts known as VJs (Video Jockeys) negotiated lights and screens to talk to guests. The program’s VJ searches yielded tens of thousands of applicants. Many of those selected had no broadcast experience and polished their skills on air.

MuchMusic spun-off several music channels, in both North America and abroad. These were in addition to the other channels and stations launched from cityTV.

Later Career
After a few quiet years post-Citytv, Znaimer re-emerged in 2008 as a self-styled champion of the Baby Boomer generation, which he referred to as “Zoomers”, (“Boomers With Zip!”). In the 70s, 80s and 90s, Znaimer had targeted this same huge demographic with his youth-oriented TV channels. Now, he contended, advertisers and the culture in general remained obsessed with the youth market, and were ignoring the needs and interests of the aging Boomers, who still comprised the most influential consumer demographic in history. “Aging needs to be redefined,” he was quoted as saying.

Znaimer currently heads two organizations directly related to the lives of Canadians 45plus. He is the President of CARP (formerly the Canadian Association of Retired People), a national non-profit, non-partisan advocacy association; and the President and CEO of ZoomerMedia Limited, a public company that trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (Venture) under the symbol ZUM. ZoomerMedia Limited operates national and regional radio, national television and print media, a suite of websites, conferences and events, and is the exclusive provider of membership and marketing services to CARP. In ____ of _____ the first issue of the magazine Zoomer appeared, a glossy reincarnation of CARP’s magazine with a circulation of ____.

On June 16, 2009, Znaimer announced his return to television, as ZoomerMedia Limited acquired the broadcasting assets of Vision TV, a Canadian English language cable and satellite television analog specialty channel that airs multi-faith, multicultural and family oriented entertainment programming. (±9 million homes); the diginet One: The Body Mind and Spirit Channel (±1 million homes); plus two Canadian over-the-air (OTA) television stations JoyTV10 (Vancouver) and JoyTV11 (Winnipeg). The purchase, financed in part by Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, consolidated all of Znaimer’ private broadcasting and event assets. Znaimer retains 66 percent control of the expanded Zoomermedia Limited.

ZoomerMedia Limited Media Properties

NATIONAL PRINT ZOOMER Magazine, Lifestyle magazine for men and women 45+ NATIONAL TELEVISION Vision TV -- Specialty channel airing airs multi-faith, multicultural and family oriented entertainment programming ONE: the Body, Mind, Spirit channel Joy10 (over-the-air (OTA) television station in Vancouver) Joy 11 (over-the-air (OTA) television station in Winnipeg) REGIONAL RADIO The New Classical 96.3 FM & 103.1 FM

classical963fm.com The New AM 740 – Zoomer Radio

ZoomerRadio.ca

ONLINE http://www.CARP.ca – the online voice of CARP the association

http://www.zoomers.ca – the social networking site for adults

http://www.zoomersingles.com - Mating, Dating & Relating for the 45plus

http://www.50plus.com – Canada’s premier provider of online content for the 45plus and a content supplier to Sympatico, Yahoo! Canada and TMXMoney.com

EVENTS & CONFERENCES ZOOMERSHOW Canada’s largest consumer trade show and lifestyle expo for the 45plus

ideaCity Three-day conference featuring 50 inspirational speakers, from diverse areas of expertise.

CARPConference

A mini-ideaCity featuring talks on aging, longevity and radical life extension

Acclamation
In 2008, Znaimer was named One of the Top 10 Canadian Media Moguls Of The Past 100 Years by Marketing Magazine. That same year, the magazine named Znaimer’s new ZoomerMedia Limited one of the Top 10 Media Players Of The Year.

In 1992 Znaimer received the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews Human Relations Award, in recognition of his contributions towards multi-culturalism and tolerance in community life. In ____ he was given The Urban Alliance on Race Relations Diversity Award, and in ____, The Human Rights Centre Gold Medal. In 2007 he received the Jane Jacob Lifetime Achievement Award – named for the legendary urban writer and visionary.

For his broadcast achievements and innovations, Znaimer has received the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ CAB Gold Ribbon (1998) – Canadian private broadcasting's highest award to an individual; and he is the only Television Content Creator and Operator to receive the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award (2005) for lifetime achievement in radio and television broadcasting. In 2008, Znaimer was honoured at the Canadians music industry’s Juno Awards with the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award recognizing “an outstanding individual who has made an invaluable contribution to the growth and advancement of the Canadian music industry”. In 2004, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and in 2007 into the Canadian Film and Television Hall of Fame. Znaimer holds Honourary Doctorates from York University (2001) and the University of Windsor (2003) and Athabasca University (year?).

In 2002, Znaimer was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal. In 2006, he was made a member of the Order of Ontario.

In ______, the City of Toronto designated the downtown stretch of Queen Street, in front of the former Citytv building at 299 Queen Street West – MOSES ZNAIMER WAY.

Other Activities
Arts & Technology: In 19XX, Znaimer produced the experimental theatre project TAMARA, a play in which the audience moved from room to room, choosing its own route through a mysterious plot. TAMARA toured Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, Mexico City, Rome, Warsaw, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo.

In 1984, Znaimer backed the world’s first large-scale Simulator-Based Attraction called Tour Of The Universe, which adapted space-program flight simulation technology to create a virtual interplanetary trip to Jupiter. The ride carried 40 passengers and operated from 1986 to 1992 at the base of Toronto’s CN Tower.

In 1992, he founded the MZTV Museum of Television & Archive, based on the largest private collection of television sets and memorabilia in the world. The museum contains 10,000 objects in all, including pre-World War II sets built by TV pioneer John Logie Baird’s, the 1939 RCA “Phantom Teleceiver” that introduced commercial television to the world at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, and Marilyn Monroe’s portable TV. In 2008, Znaimer announced the donation of his entire collection to the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal.

Health & Soceity: Znaimer was [IS?] Co-founder and Chairman of Cannasat Therapeutics, a company which pioneered the therapeutic applications of marijuana. He is also the first Associate Founder of Singularity University (SU), at the NASA Research Park in the heart of Silicon Valley. Since 2000, Znaimer has presented the Canadian conference ideaCity in Toronto. Modelled after the ”TED” conferences, ideaCity is a cross-disciplinary event featuring 50 presenters, each of whom has twenty minutes onstage to speak.

Book & Literary Credits

Movie Credits

Felix, the gangster in Louis Malle’s 1981 film ATLANTIC CITY, starring Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon. Personal Life

Znaimer lives in Toronto with his companion of 49 years, actress Marilyn Lightstone.